Geotechnical analysis of famous failures

[pietro82]

Hi all,

I'm doing a lecture on basic soil mechanics and I want to do lesson on analysis famous failures (or designin error) and how they could have been analysed by using the comcepts and formulas I teach. I found that some have already explained on getechnical books, for example the "kissing silos" or the Pisa torwer. Does anyone have any famous failures that I may easily explain to students?

Thank you

Regards

Pietro

 

[Guest262653]

There's a classic on the Rissa quick clay slide from the Norwegian Geotechnical Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q-qfNlEP4A

http://www.ngi.no/upload/6485/Rissa_Quick_Clay_slide_NGI Publ.135.pdf

A few of links I found using google (not so famous, but they might help):

http://failures.wikispaces.com/x-Geotechnical / Foundations

http://www.imia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/EP45-2011-Systemic-Causes-in-Geotechnical-Works.pdf

http://vzb.baw.de/e-medien/geotechn...ctical Applications and Case Studies/6_08.pdf

http://gfwa.com.au/pdf files/Public...es of Geotechnical Failures & Near Misses.pdf

http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/mentors/Rogers-compresed Geotech Case Histories Courses.pdf

 

[Ron]

Check the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City....lots of settlement, though relatively uniform. Many other Mexico City buildings are settling....one presumption is groundwater drawdown from excessive water use.

 

[racookpe1978]

2 places come to mind. Mexico City earthquake. Row of high apartment buildings. 2 fell, 6 were good just a few meters away. Soil conditions were different, but every building was built the same way. (Or, were those two were built by the corrupt contractors, and the others were properly made ?)

Spanish nuclear reactor. A very large rock and cover area was removed from a hillside to provide a large, flat area for the second power plant and reactor building at the same level as the first. The removal of the large overburden (150 + feet over several acres) resulted in a "flat" area on rock, and the concrete pads and foundations were started. But the "rock" was not yet stable and began rising but not uniformly. The result (over several years) was a slightly tilted reactor building and reactor refueling crane inside the containment.

 

[oldestguy]

Practically speaking if I was a student there I'd not attend. However, if the subject was something that would be helpful for me on the job in years to come, well yes. I'd add one comment about my experience with failures in geotech aspects it is the failure of internal communication between superiors and the grunts doing the job. Next is the failure of the contractor to abide by the plans or geotech report. On that, make sure they are clear and don't contain a lot of unneeded words.

 

[msquared48]

Failures happen not only in engineering, but also in local politics when the warnings of reputable engineers are not disseminated or heeded. The recent Oso Landslide in Washington State is a prime example of that fact.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[Ron]

Good point Mike!

 

[miningman]

The Aberfan disaster in 1966 might be worth discussing

 

[jayrod12]

One that is easy to show bearing capacity failure is the Transcona Elevator in Winnipeg Manitoba. There are quite a few discussion and papers that cover not only the failure but also the repair process.